Email: ae2158@uab.edu
Phone: (205) 934-6705

University Affiliation: https://www.uab.edu/soph/home/departments/hcop/mch/

JIWC-specific areas of expertise: Maternal and Child Health; Social/Emotional Learning; Developmental Disabilities; Health Services Research; GIS; Quantitative and Qualitative Methods

Student opportunities available? Yes, currently limited to UAB students.

Funding details: No funding available.

What makes you passionate about this work?

“As an undergraduate student, I became aware of the “Million Dollar Blocks Project” (https://c4sr.columbia.edu/projects/million-dollar-blocks), and realized that millions of dollars were being put towards a criminal justice enterprise that did little to actively promote healthy and resilient thriving communities. Since then, I have sought out opportunities to engage in work that interrupts the pipelines and cycles that prevent families and neighborhoods from thriving.”

What community-engaged JIWC work are you currently doing?

“I serve on the Georgia Maternal Mortality Review Committee, which reviews violence related causes of death as well as women’s lifetime experience with the criminal justice system. I also conduct analyses for the CDC on women’s maternal mortality and the related influences of substance abuse and incarceration. Through the Ounce of Prevention, an Illinois organization that focuses on early childhood development, I am advising a group that is offering doula services to JIWC women in a number of Chicago communities.”

What research-practice collaborations are you the most excited to work on?

“The focus of my work is the intersection of evidence-based practice and practice-based evidence, particularly in the Deep South. I would be thrilled to work with organizations aiming to address racial disparities in post-incarceration health outcomes as well as social-emotional resilience in children of justice-involved women.”